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Address to Discuss the Impact of Public Art

Submitted by Karen Bos on Mon, 2007-10-15 11:52

Artist Hubert Massey will present the address "The Impact of Public Art from Past to Present Day" on Wednesday, Oct. 24, at 4 p.m. in the Maas Center auditorium through the Multicultural Enrichment Series at Hope College.

The public is invited. Admission is free.

Massey's interests include the marriage between art and architecture, with additional focus on art restoration and conservation. Through the years he has been commissioned to create works of art in many public places throughout the metro Detroit area as well as elsewhere.

He designed the terrazzo floor which graces the Rotunda room of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit. The design, titled "Genealogy," depicts the struggle of Africans and African Americans throughout history. The floor, which is 72 feet in diameter, is one of the main focal pieces in the museum.

The Michigan State Fairgrounds was home to a mural depicting the history of Michigan. A granite petrograph carving is housed at the entrance of the newly built IRS Midwest Computer Center in Detroit. His mural "The Death of Laocoon and his two sons, Antiphas and Thymbraeus," is in the lobby of the Athenaeum Hotel in Greektown in Detroit.

Massey is currently completing a large-scale lunette fresco for the Detroit Athletic Club. He also created the fresco "Importing and Exporting of Knowledge" for the Richard DeVos Building of the downtown Grand Rapids campus of Grand Valley State University.

He has been commissioned to participate in many art programs, workshops and gallery exhibitions. He has served as an art instructor with the Detroit Council of Arts; the Detroit Summer Youth Program; and The Advanced Gifted and Talented Program housed at Wayne State University, a joint collaboration between Wayne State University and the Detroit Public Schools.

Massey is a graduate of Grand Valley State University, and has done additional study at the University of London-Slade Institute of Fine Arts and the Art Education Program at Wayne State University. Grand Valley State University presented him with a distinguished alumni award in 2001. Among other honors, he was accepted into membership by the National Society of Mural Painters of New York City in 1993; was appointed to the Wayne County Community Leaders Council in 1995; and received a Spirit of Detroit Award in 1993.

The Maas Center is located at 264 Columbia Ave., on Columbia Avenue at 11th Street.